Burning Issue: HIV/AIDS

[ugehlot]

I was wondering if the Jatland Community can provide their thoughts about this sensitive issue on how we as a community deal with the rampant spread of this deadly disease and educating our community about prevention etc.

Already on the scale of epidemic proportions in India, HIV/AIDS will spare no one if the proper health prevention and education is not provided is not provided. It is not a issue to be tackled behind close doors or something to be remain silent about. Without proactive measures this infection would spell doom in our nation.

With the way our social structure is set up, the imminent danger of getting the infection will be the unsuspecting women and their children......It is high time that we wake up and do something about it.

An aware community is a healthy community with a prosperous future and all of us here strive to make our community better.

cheers

[anilkc]

Apart from prevention, its also important that we provide good family/community and health support system for the unfortunate soul.

[anilkc]

Always buy and use ur own good quality disposable needles when taking injections. Money saved is not worth the risk.

[ugehlot]

wow....it seems no one has anything so say....

[anilkc]

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india.html

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/india_2044.html

[nvedwan]

I think AIDS continues to be a ticking bomb issue for India, although some of the direst predictions that were made may not have come true (This may have in fact lead to a sense of complacency among people).

One of the biggest problems is of course the perception that AIDS affects "other" people, who are often characterized as deviant in some ways, sexually or culturally. The fact that in discussion of AIDS in the Indian context, it is always truck drivers and prostitutes who are discussed--and therefore made to appear as the principal culprits--encourages the thinking that good people are immune to it. The blood transfusion route to AIDS infection, especially in the light of a recent WHO study,which revealed that nearly 1/3 injections in India are unsafe, should be emphasized more. There is also a cultural issue here, which is that we as people tend to be extremely judgmental about personal frailities and see moral lapse as the leading cause of AIDS (which allows us to guiltlessly wash our hands off of the affected people).

The other day, I was reading a newspaper article about how AIDS is spreading rapidly in western UP. In fact the only reason we don't hear more about it is because of under/mis-diagnosis and the fact that it is affecting mostly people of low socio-economic strata. This particular report described the
ostracism of people suffering from AIDS, in addition to the enormous suffering they are having to go through, by being forced to live outside the village, and receiving scant sympathy from their co-villagers. The article went on to note that AIDS-related mortality in western up is often (wrongly) attributed to diarrhea, TB, etc, which are probably only proximate causes. I recall a similar situation that existed in the village chulkana, near ganaur in sonipat distt., several years ago, where a cluster of AIDS cases was found, and quickly dismissed as being an aberration. However, it seems people are beginning to piece the parts together, but the reaction is far from being constructive.

In absence of systematic epidemeological data in India, I suspect that a majority of cases of AIDS are going undetected. Couple this with the hysteria that it causes among people (even health professionals--remember a few years ago, doctors in one of the premier delhi hospitals refused to an autopsy on a diplomat who was thought to have died of AIDS), mostly on account of unfounded fears that exist, a person suffering from AIDS is simply condemned to ignominy.

Action on several fronts is required: the government has to stop treating AIDS as a "western" disease (like they pretended in China for a long time,to disastrous consequences) which doesn't affect "good" indians, people have to be educated about AIDS, and, even more importantly, about not seeing it as the result of moral failure (like leprosy was and is still considered in India).

[ugehlot]

professor vedwan,

excellent complilation of data and thoughts.....you have pretty much summarized the AIDS scenario in India....my only point in starting this topic was that people get rid of myths and gain an understanding about this epidemic.....few people here seem interested.....

[nvedwan]

Thanks for raising the issue. you are right that the response level is disappointing. More people could have responded, but hopefully, at least, a number of them seem to have gone through the thread. The "problem" with these issues is that they do not have enough 'masala' for a lot of people's taste. In general nothing sells like "yes", " no", "with" or "against" type discussions, spicier the better (although funny to think that we never tire of cursing Hindi movies for producing simplistic, crude, trash!). and then you have something like AIDS where it is difficult to draw clear lines and subtlety is involved. of course, hardly any takers!!

Regardless, there is value in raising these issues--this may be the only time some people will glance at it, if even by mistake and mistakened curiosity. at least that is what I think!

[sanjeevmalik]

As per my understanding, this topic is related to scientific research/development about the root cause of it spread and how the disease can by itself be controlled, diagnosed and cured by medicine and other treatments.

“Prevention is better than cure.” I guess this is the topic that can/should be discussed here. As far as the prevention of the disease is concerned, my viewpoint is that it’s more of a matter of implementation than strategic thinking/discussion of intellectual minds here. As for the active browsers on this site, most of us have resources and basic knowledge of finding more research material on the internet and educate our self with it.

We can use this platform/site to work on an implementation plan, by which I mean:

1. How can we educate our community (mainly in villages and remote areas) who don’t have access to information about HIV/AIDS or don’t have resources or don’t have the education to take precautionary measure to avoid getting caught by HIV/AIDS?

2. How can our Jatland community form a group by volunteering and doing something in the field (villages/remote areas) in addition to expressing individual view points here?

3. How can our Jatland community can provide data/resources/ideas/personal time to make it an successful event/camp/lecture in the field(villages, schools, community centers, etc)?

These are just my thoughts. Other please chime in.

Thanks.

[ugehlot]

Sanjeev,

the point of discussion here is exactly what you have written.....i.e spread of knowledge about the disease which in turn will hopefully motivate people about the idea of PREVENTION...and nothing is better than prevention....as well said by you...lets leave the scientific part to the medical and research community....we as a community should be in the forefront to educate people...

upender